To shorten beard grooming, gather your men’s grooming products to make a beard grooming kit. Place them in a bag, basket, counter, or toiletry kit. The point is you can reach them conveniently.

What’s supposed to be in the beard kit? First, you need to have a beard wash and beard conditioner. These two work in cleaning and softening the facial hair. They contain natural ingredients chosen to suit the sensitive skin on your face and facial hair.

You also need to invest in a beard comb and brush, conditioning oil or beard balm, styling balm, small hair dryer, and optional products, such as sea salt spray.

2. Clean and Soften

With everything in place, you can now start your beard grooming. First step is to clean and soften. For this, you need the beard wash, beard shampoo, and beard conditioner.

To help save time, you don’t need to apply your beard wash every day. In fact, it’s best to use it two or three times a week to avoid drying the hair and skin. You can also use both the shampoo and conditioner while in the shower.

Start with the beard wash. After wetting your beard, put a dollop into your hands, lather up, and rinse off. Then apply a small amount of beard softener and leave it on for at least 2 minutes.

Apply your beard shampoo to make the facial hair even softer and follow it with the conditioner. Another time-saving tip: you don’t have to use the shampoo daily. Deep-cleaning and conditioning are more important.

After the shower, apply a conditioning agent, which can be a beard oil or a beard balm — you don’t need both.

Beard oil is a great conditioning agent for those who are still growing a beard, which means the hair is still short or new. It’s also helpful if you have skin flaking or sensitivity. Beard balm works well for medium to long beards, as well as hydrated or dry facial hair.

These products work best when your facial hair is damp and your pores are open, so apply them as soon as you step out of the shower.

If you use the beard balm, scoop out a coin-sized amount and work it between your palms to soften it. Oils, on the other hand, often come with a dropper. Use no more than four drops for a short beard and up to eight drops for a full beard.

Work the beard balm or oil through your hair to coat evenly. Try to work your coated fingers down to the skin to avoid dryness and irritation.

Apply the leave-in conditioner in the morning before you start your day. If you’re going out again in the evening, a little beard balm or oil can freshen your look and soften your beard — all without a full styling session.

3. Comb and Brush

The beard grooming products can soften and nourish the facial hair, but they don’t handle the snags. A beard comb or brush does.

It’s important to use a beard comb since beard hair is more tensile than the hair on your head. Beard combs feature wide teeth on one end for the beard section and narrow ones on the other for your mustache. (Some guys even invest in both beard and mustache combs — it’s all about your own preference!)

A good-quality beard brush, meanwhile, usually has boar hair for its bristles to efficiently whisk away debris while spreading out the hair’s natural oils.

To comb your beard, hold it with the teeth-side up and pull it upward in gentle strokes. Think of it as fluffing out your facial hair while loosening up tiny snarls or uneven patches.

Work on your facial hair in sections and be gentle as you go. Once you’ve gotten your fluff on, turn the comb over and gently run it down and through your beard until it falls back into its usual neat shape.

If you have a shorter beard, you may prefer using the brush, which you use the same way as the comb. If your facial hair is so short it doesn’t move away from your face at all, don’t bother with the upward motion.

Just gently run the brush through your beard to neaten it up, remove debris, and spread out the beard’s natural oils, which is especially helpful for coarse and patchy beards.

4. Style

Styling your beard may take a while to master, but with practice, you can get it down to a few minutes. If your beard is a bit limp, start with a beard spray to give it some volume. Some beard spray contains sea salt, which makes beard styling easier. It doesn’t leave the hair flat and makes it manageable throughout the day.

If you use the spray, work it into your damp beard with a comb. Next, apply your conditioning beard balm or beard oil. This step gets it ready for the heat of a blow dryer.

If you have a fuller beard, use a round brush with the hair dryer to give it a nice shape and tug the curls in the right direction. Otherwise, use a smaller brush.

Follow the direction of the brush you’re holding with one hand with the blow dryer, which you’re holding in the other. The heat of the dryer helps train those wayward curls and bumpy bits to behave themselves. This is also a good time to give the bottom of your beard the shape you want whether it’s a straight edge or a gentle under-curl.

After blow-drying, apply a styling balm. (Remember, a styling beard balm is different from a conditioning beard balm. It is more lightweight, much like a hair mousse). Smooth it onto the outer surface of your beard and mustache and give your facial hair any needed additional smoothing with your comb.

One of the low-maintenance beard styles is the V shape. Greg Boswell shows you how to do it:

Growing a beard doesn’t have to take much of your time. With the beard grooming kit ready, you can care for your facial hair all before your coffee even has a chance to kick in!

Got tips on how to save time on beard grooming? Let us know in the comments section below.

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